The morning dawns crystal clear again. We pack our things
and start off. Today our goal is crest Glen Pass: easily one of the
more dramatic passes on the JMT. We've both done it before, so we're
not braving new terrain. But it's to be our longest stretch in between
resupply points. In the next eight days we'll be covering four passes,
beginning with this one and then continuing with Pinchot, Mather and
Muir Passes.

We part company with Dad at the trail junction. It's
the last time It will be four weeks until I see him again.

One last group shot

Hiking into paradise

We all got up
fairly early- had cocoa, green tea, breakfast burritos and packed upand
were on the trail by 8:30. We parted at the Kearsarge Lake junction. We
watched Chase make the pass (9:35) and Will and I hiked onward. We met
a guy who had camped out at the lake too and was on his way to Rae Lakes.
We crested the pass first.

Will stands on the knife-edge

Looking back the way we came. The
trail is faintly visible.

Looking North. Rae Lakes in the distance

Sitting atop
Glen Pass. You could not BEG for better pass-bagging weather. Mom's a
short distance behind me, toiling up the final switchbacks. The vast basin
below is scattered with lakes, many of them rock-bound. But down further
the Rae Lakes cluster sits wrapped in green. My face is fried. It's been
a pristine, cloudless day, so my skin is feeling the sun. The scurry up
the final switchbacks to this view was fairly easy once I settled into
a rhythm (and a song, which was "Mystic Rhythms" by Rush.) Soon, we'll
have a bagel and cream-cheese sandwich. Then we'll head down the north
flank of the pass and its remarkably well-designed switchbacks to the
shelf below.

The first part
of the hike to Glen Pass was difficult with a lot of uphill. The second
part was brutal but the switchbacks up the last part were not bad. I didn't
even have to sit down and rest. Will and I had a bagel with cream cheese
and fresh tomato at the top, then headed down. It was BRUTAL. It was steep
and rocky and I was a mess and went very slowly. It took me 2 hours to
descend. I started crying from exhaustion and pain near the bottom- the
first time I've ever done that. Then, going over water on 2 tippy rocks,
I shrieked, then got totally out of breath on an incline and was gasping,
and I burst into tears and couldn't stop bawling. It was a combination
of loneliness, extreme exhaustion and pain. Will said he had felt similarly
when he staggered into camp at Tenaya Lake last Fall.

The above was
written at about 1:20 PM. Mom and I had our bagels and headed down. My
comment about the remarkably well-engineered switchbacks seems to have
been correct.except that the engineers in question were apparently part
Mountain Goat. I found them to be manageable, though a little rough on
the toesies, but they mugged Mom. They held her at gunpoint and robbed
her of her energy, her good humor and her will to go on. I know how she
feels. The similarity between this plunge from Glen Pass and my own journey
last year from Ten Lakes in Yosemite to Tenaya Lake (sixteen miles by
my own convoluted route) was that we both stumbled down the final switchbacks
and found ourselves sniveling. The 48-year-old New York man who'd been
our trail companion most of the day tip-toed past after I assured him
everything was cool.

We
camped at Rae Lakes about 5-5:30, instead of Arrowhead Lake- we washed
up, cooked dinner- a tasty couscous with fresh green peppers and onions
(thanks to Keir and Joy) and coconut milk and curry. I am writing this
now at 7:30. I will go to sleep early and hope I recover tomorrow.

Now
we're in a nice campsite beneath the hulk of Fin Dome. At the very northernmost
of the Rae Lakes. The sun has slipped off the Dragon's Back. We've had
our dinner of curry, coconut milk, green peppers and cous cous, our dessert
of a single fruit gel, stashed the extra grub in the bear locker and are
now in the tent. Tomorrow I'm gonna try to carry Mom's food canister in
an effort to lighten her load. Now I'm off to read Somerset Maugham.

Though the travel has been rough, the day has been beautiful. I took
a number of great shots. The one below was an accident. During our ascent,
I wanted to photograph Mom, who was just up the rocky trail. As I lifted
the camera, my finger accidentally tripped the shutter.